


Mending

by chennieforyourthoughts



Series: Highlight [1]
Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: M/M, NO.MERCY references, Poor Changkyun needed some love after NO.MERCY
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-13
Updated: 2017-09-13
Packaged: 2018-12-27 11:22:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12080055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chennieforyourthoughts/pseuds/chennieforyourthoughts
Summary: Or, six "thank you"s and six times Changkyun wins over one of his hyungs, plus one time it's already been done.





	Mending

**Author's Note:**

> The author finished NO.MERCY and decided that Changkyun needed something sweet.
> 
> [(Fanfic Disclaimer + More ♥)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chen_CHING/profile)

**X**  x x x x x x

  
“Thank you,” Hyungwon said, and Changkyun froze where he stood. The tea kettle Changkyun had been using remained clutched in his hand, its liquid unpoured.

“May I ask for what, hyung?”

Hyungwon stepped up to him and— much to Changkyun’s surprise— pulled him in for a hug. “For staying with us, even though we’ve been awful to you these past months. I, for one, can’t keep it up when you’ve been nothing but  _kinder_ to us as time has gone on.”

  _x_ **X**  x x x x x

For a maknae, Changkyun was surprisingly good to wake. He didn’t groan and whine like some of the others or roll over and fall back asleep—  _Hyungwon_ — so he was immediately one of Kihyun’s favorites in the mornings.

But Kihyun wondered how deeply Changkyun truly slept.

He would wake up on edge, wide-awake as soon as Kihyun stepped near him.

 _Wide awake as if he never knew if he’d be pulled from bed and ordered to leave,_ Kihyun realized.

So it was an early morning when Kihyun woke him early and asked Changkyun to help him work in the kitchen making breakfast. The maknae did so without complaint, rising and quickly getting ready. It was one of the few places and times where Kihyun could speak to Changkyun alone, and he hoped to make the most of it.

“Changkyun-ah,” Kihyun began as he cracked a pair of eggs. “I hope you slept well?”

“Very well, thank you hyung,” Changkyun, ever polite, replied. “I hope you did as well.”

“Thank you, I did.” An awkward silence alighted on the kitchen, filled with the sounds of the stove igniting and Changkyun mixing in a bowl. “Changkyun, you know that your position in this group is secure?”

The mixing came to an abrupt halt. “I know, hyung, that the position is mine for as long as I work hard enough to keep it,” Changkyun replied, and although Kihyun didn’t let it show his heart broke.

“You’re working hard enough,” Kihyun sighed, carefully reaching out to rest his palm on Changkyun’s shoulder. To his relief, the youngest didn’t flinch away. “You’re more than enough for us. Truth be told, we don’t deserve a maknae and a rapper as good as you after how we’ve been treating you. We never moved on from NO.MERCY, and we should pay for it.”

“Someone else told me that recently. Thank you, hyung.”

“No, Changkyun. Thank  _you.”_

  _x x_ **X**  x x x x

“Thank you, Changkyun, for offering to stay behind. I think you’re close now, you just have to remember the rhythm of the crossover and then you’ve got it.” Changkyun’s black t-shirt had become a second skin sometime during the group practice and had passed on to being more of a soaked towel sometime after Hyunwoo agreed to help him with part of the choreography the group was learning.  _It wasn’t even particularly tricky,_ Changkyun thought,  _and as a rapper, he should have had better control over **rhythm.**  Jooheon hyung certainly did; he was one of the group’s best dancers._

Changkyun ran through the step sequence again under Hyunwoo’s watchful eye. He thought of it as a rap this time, a poem portrayed differently, and when he finished Hyunwoo looked impressed. He’d gotten better at reading the expressions and emotions of his hyungs and metering his reactions to fit the situation.

“Changkyun,” Hyunwoo began, but it sounded  _nothing_  like Changkyun was expecting. He immediately tensed, unsure of exactly where he’d misread his leader.

“Changkyun, that was  _beautiful.”_

Hyunwoo wasn’t one to hand out compliments by the dozen, and Changkyun knew it. His eyes widened as he realized that his hyung was  _proud_ of him, and when he took a quick think back into the past he couldn’t think of another such occasion when it had been quite so forthright. “We’re lucky to have such a talented maknae,” Hyunwoo continued, and Changkyun honestly wondered if his smile would ever fade.

  _x x x_ **X**  x x x

The door to the exercise room opened as Hoseok finished the final chest press of one of his sets. He sat up after a moment to see that it was Changkyun, a towel clutched in one hand and a frankly ginormous water bottle in the other. “For you,” the rapper announced, pushing the articles forward to make his point, “From Kihyun hyung.”         

“Thanks, Changkyun-ah,” Hoseok panted, gratefully accepting both. He turned away to breathe for a few seconds before going back to the bar.

When he finished the next set of reps, he slid the bar back into its supports and noticed that Changkyun was seated on one of the weight benches next to him. “You’re still here?” Hoseok asked, clearing sweat from where it had begun to drip into his eyes.

“Kihyun sent a three-part package,” Changkyun replied, “so that means I have to stay.” Hoseok burst into laughter. The younger startled at the unexpected reaction, but began to chuckle after a second.

“Changkyun-ah, I think I’m going to keep you!” If anything, that made both laugh harder.

Hoseok worked for hours, chest presses and dumbbells and pushups and sit-ups and finally a run on the treadmill. Through it all, Changkyun stayed put in the exercise room. He gladly DJed for Hoseok, picking music for him to work to and adding in Hoseok’s suggestions. He was always there with more water and towels, as if he conjured them from thin air. When Hoseok finally stepped off the treadmill, Changkyun was there to steady him. Hoseok hadn’t realized he was shaking as hard as he was.

“Hyung, we should head back to the dorm now. It’s quarter to two.”

Looking up at the digital clock on the wall, Hoseok realized Changkyun was right. “Alright,” he said, surprising himself when the words echoed in the silent room.

He followed Changkyun back to the dorms, the maknae’s grip firm on his bicep to keep him from wandering off in his exhausted state. Before Hoseok entered his room (hopefully without waking his roommates), he turned back to face Changkyun. “Thank you for spotting for me, Changkyun-ah,” Hoseok told him, and Changkyun smiled fondly.

“Like I said, it was a three-piece package. Now go before you fall asleep in the hallway and Hyungwon steps on you again.”

As Changkyun walked away, hearing Hoseok mutter about him sounding like Kihyun, something bloomed in Changkyun’s chest, something rich and calming. He’d won over another one of his hyungs, after all.

 _x x x x_ **X**  x x

Changkyun knew warming Jooheon to him would not be easy. Although the elder rapper had been willing to help during NO.MERCY, Jooheon and Gunhee had been inseparable.... until Changkyun had entered and torn the best friends apart.

Now, Jooheon had no mercy for him.

That didn’t mean they didn’t have to work together, write together, record in the same studio together. They hunched over lyrics together into the depths of night, but each remained firmly in his own world, in his own words.

“I’m going to go out to get us coffee,” Changkyun announced, and Jooheon squinted up at him. His glasses had slipped down his nose, and although Changkyun knew he was doing it simply because he couldn’t see the other rapper well, Changkyun couldn’t help but  _aww internally._

Those were the first words spoken that evening, and although they weren’t anything special or particularily groundbreaking both rappers felt something in the studio change.

“Thank you, Changkyun-ah,” Jooheon told him, and it was decidedly genuine. Changkyun had learned early on that what Jooheon said was genuine, or it wouldn’t be said at all.

“It’s my pleasure,” Changkyun replied, and it was as true as his small smile.

Jooheon wasn't one to lie, but were he pressed about whether or not he found it absolutely adorable he would have fallen silent.

 _x x x x x_ **X**  x

All seven members were struggling to stay awake. Even though they travelled often, jetlag was still a bear and a concert followed by one of their first meet and greets was never easy. Changkyun sat beside Minhyuk, both busily signing away.

One young lady stepped away and another came to take her place. The members greeted her, fighting valiantly against the bone-deep exhaustion. “I went to your second concert! I’m so happy I could see you again,” She piped up, and Minhyuk blinked at her. Words were starting to become more effort than staying awake was.

“I think I remember you— at the second show, were you in the second row from the front? With a purple sweater? And tonight you were on the balcony in a Jooheon jersey, if I’m remembering correctly.” Minhyuk turned to gape at Changkyun.

“Yes, I was!”

“I knew I remembered you,” Changkyun continued, and his smile was genuine. Minhyuk couldn’t stop staring. Their fan’s excitement could have powered an entire city block, her squeal broken several world records.

She had to leave shortly thereafter. Before another took her place, Minhyuk leaned in to whisper to Changkyun. (It’d be all over the press by the next morning, but Minhyuk was  _curious.)_ “Thank you for taking care of her, Changkyun-ah. How did you do that, by the way?”

It was Changkyun’s turn to stare. “What?”

“You actually remembered her. From in the middle of the crowd. And could recite what she was  _wearing,_ both times _._ Even down to the fact that it was a Jooheon jersey.”

“Yes, hyung? Forgive me, but that’s nothing new.”

Minhyuk was certain his eyes were about to pop out of his own head. “You’ve always been able to remember crazy facts about people when you’ve seen them once in passing? Is that even normal?”

“I don’t know, Minhyuk hyung, but it’s normal for me.” Changkyun glanced over at Minhyuk, and the elder was still staring at him.

“Hyunwoo hyung, we have the best maknae  _ever.”_

“We already know,” Hoseok supplied, nudging Changkyun with his elbow.

Hyunwoo lifted his pen from the poster he was signing and looked at Minhyuk. “Of course we do,” he smiled. “The real question is what amazing thing Changkyun-ah did this time.”

Minhyuk told him about it the entire way home.

 _x x x x x x_ **X**

“Give me a second, I’ll run and grab the demo!” Jooheon shot up from the hotel room desk and out of the frame, leaving Changkyun to face the laptop and its webcam on his own.

“Jooheonnie certainly seems excited about this one,” the person on the other end laughed, shaking his head. “Are you looking forward to it, Changkyun-ssi?”

Changkyun tried not to fidget, but he hadn’t exactly _spoken_ to Gunhee following NO.MERCY. He’d known Jooheon still met up with the solo artist and helped him out, but Changkyun and the rapper had not stayed in touch for obvious reasons. “I am,” Changkyun started, “but I’m nervous about it as well.”

Gunhee hummed, resting his chin on his folded hands. “Why’s that, if I may ask?”

The maknae sighed and stared down at the pad of paper provided by the hotel. “I’m no Jooheon. I can’t rap like that.”

“No, you can’t,” Changkyun’s head snapped up. Gunhee’s expression was thoughtful, even if it _was_ a few thousand miles away. “Because you have your own unique style. And it fits with his more than mine could ever dream of. The two of you are a matched pair, quite literally— _you were selected because you complete each other.”_

Gunhee’s words sunk in, and Changkyun was silent. The door to the hotel room he was sharing with Jooheon slammed open and both of the rappers sighed in unison. “Thank you, Gunhee-ssi,” Changkyun said while he still had time.

“Please, call me hyung.”

“Well then, Gunhee hyung, that was beyond sappy. Also, I thought you might want to be informed that Hyungwon hyung _did_ indeed become a ‘fucking model,’ so you’d better start rapping underground.”

Someone banged on the wall from the next room over, and both Changkyun and Gunhee jumped and abruptly stopped laughing. “CHANGKYUN, I HEARD THAT!”

Jooheon, who had arrived back in the room, was the picture of surprise. “Changkyun, what did you say? Hyungwon sounds _pissed.”_

Gunhee and Changkyun looked at each other from thousands of miles away and made silent vows to _never_ tell.


End file.
